- A lawyer representing two Sandy Hook parents told the jury in Alex Jones' trial to "Take him out."
- "Alex Jones is patient zero for our society's inability to speak without lies," the attorney said.
That's what a lawyer representing two Sandy Hook parents who have sued Alex Jones for defamation over his false "hoax" claims about the massacre asked a Texas jury to do on Friday as they weigh punitive damages against the Infowars founder.
"Take him out of this discourse of this misinformation, of this peddling of lies and make sure he can't do it again," attorney Wesley Ball said of the far-right conspiracy theorist during his closing arguments in the punitive damages phase of Jones' defamation damages trial.
"I ask that with your verdict you not only take Alex Jones' platform away, you make certain he will not rebuild the platform," he added. "That is punishment. That is deterrence."
The jury in the civil case on Thursday awarded $4.1 million in compensatory damages to plaintiffs Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis — the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, who was one of the 26 killed in the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut, massacre.
Now lawyers for the parents want the jury to force Jones to pay $145.9 million in punitive damages to them — to come to $150 million in total damages like they originally asked for at the beginning of the two-week trial.
"Alex Jones is patient zero for our society's inability to speak without lies," Ball told the Travis County District Court jury. "He is patient zero for alternative facts."
"I hope we never see someone like him again," Ball said, adding, "I hope that with your verdict he can go away."
Heslin and Lewis sued Jones and his media company, Free Speech Systems, for defamation over his falsehoods about the mass shooting.
Jones has already been found liable by default by the Texas court and a court in Connecticut for his depiction of the rampage, which was the deadliest K-12 school shooting in American history.
Ball told the jury that though he is "incredibly grateful" they already awarded $4.1 million to his clients because it is a sum that will change their lives "forever," it "doesn't affect Alex Jones' life one bit."
"Your verdict doesn't punish and it doesn't deter thus far in any way and that's what this stage is for," Ball said.
Earlier Friday, a forensic economist testified in the case and estimated that the combined net worth of Jones and his media company is between $135 million and $270 million.
Ball told the jury that contained in the contents of Jones' cell phone that was inadvertently sent last month to opposing counsel was a text message from Jones saying that he made $4 million in one week "years after" he was de-platformed from social media sites.
"We know that everything the man said on the [witness] stand is virtually a lie," Ball said of Jones, who testified in his own defense during the trial. "When he breathes he lies."
Jones' defense attorney, F. Andino Reynal, asked the jury on Friday to return a verdict that is "fair and proportionate," which he suggested was $270,000.
"You have already sent a message," Reynal told the jury. "You sent a message for the first time to a talk show host, to all talk show hosts that their standard of care has to be different."
The jury has begun deliberations in the matter.